(Or: How Not to Object to Christian Apologetics.) Dear Apollos: I’m concerned about your ministry. You publicly defend the public resurrection and public kingship of Jesus by appealing to public Scriptures and public evidences. You even have the audacity to say that Jesus rose bodily from the dead and that he is rightful king over everything and … [Read more...]
Plantinga Summarises the Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism
Here’s how Alvin Plantinga summarises the evolutionary argument against naturalism (EAAN) in his book Where the Conflict Really Lies (p. 314):1 The basic idea of my argument could be put (a bit crudely) as follows. First, the probability of our cognitive faculties being reliable, given naturalism and evolution, is low. (To put it a bit inaccurately … [Read more...]
What Caused God?
Adam: Chris, earlier in our conversation you said that physical reality must've been caused by something—either by God or by something like God. Right? Chris: Yeah, that’s right. Adam: That’s all very well. But then what caused God? Chris: I’m not entirely sure I understand your question. Can you elaborate a bit? Adam: Well, take the so-called argument for a … [Read more...]
John Walton—“Genesis Through Ancient Eyes”
A common objection to Christianity is that there's supposedly a fundamental conflict between the biblical and scientific stories of the origin and development of the universe, the Earth, life, and so on and so forth. John Walton, ((John Walton has a Ph.D. in Hebrew and Cognate Studies from the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, … [Read more...]
Rejecting Claims Because They Have Inconvenient Implications
Often people reason as follows: (1) If claim C is true, X is the case. (2) I find X difficult, inconvenient, repulsive, or undesirable in some other way. (3) (So) claim C is false. Of course, this isn’t a valid argument. It’s missing a premise: (4) If I find X difficult, inconvenient, repulsive, or undesirable in some other way, X is not the case. Premise … [Read more...]
Don’t Reject Theistic Arguments Too Quickly!
Sceptics often reject theistic arguments by pointing out that they “don’t prove God.”[1] Perhaps the theist has just argued that there’s a personal uncaused cause, or a personal designer of the universe, or a necessarily existent perfectly rational mind, or what-have-you; in any case, the sceptic’s response is to explain how the theist’s argument doesn’t … [Read more...]